A mermaid made a simple wish.
To be more than maid and fish.
Longed for flesh and blood and skin
Rid of sand and sea and fin.

Every day she wept and wept
In her heart her secret kept.
Until one day she spied a boat
Unmanned and left alone to float.

Somehow she managed to embark
And traveled far into the dark.
At dawn, she and her ship aground
Happy at last that land be found.

The mermaid didn’t care what beach
What wondrous land was in her reach
She labored long to crawl uphill
Elated by the breathless thrill.

The grass beneath her skin was warm.
Earth next to her mermaid form.
She gathered there some fragrant blooms
Smiling at the sweet perfumes.

Her laborious climb was not in vain.
The trek uphill well worth the pain.
To see the world anew this way
Worth any price she’d have to pay.

Rolling grasses and beckoning trees
Waves of green on earthbound seas
Met her eyes with great delight
And she rejoiced so at the sight.

A legend of sorts was born that day
She got her wish some would say.
Bronzed there on that seaside mountain
Sculpted there, a mermaid fountain.

10/25/2004